Galactic Visions Exhibit to debut this Thursday,
International Women's Day at IPRAC
 

Upcoming Events
Galactic Visions Exhibit to debut on IWD at IPRAC 

 

Thursday, March 8th
6 p.m.
IPRAC, 3015 W. Division St

Presenting the recent work of Puerto Rican Artist Catherine Matos Olivo. Galactic Visions is an extraordinary example and portrayal of personal strength and resilience based on a series of illustrations that recover Catherine's journey with breast cancer for a period of one year. Catherine Matos Olivo is professor of art at the Escuela de Artes Pl�sticas in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  

The opening event of Galactic Visions will be Thursday, March 8th, 6 p.m. at IPRAC (3015 W. Division Street). This exhibit will be up throughout the month of March in commemoration of International Women's Month. The Galactic Visions exhibit is a collaborative effort with the Mount Sinai Urban Health Institute.
LAST WEEK!
We are giving away 2 more tickets to this event!
First to email us wins!
First come, first serve!


SALSA NIGHT!
Friday, April 27, 2012
Excalibur Night Club - Tickets only $30!
632 N. Dearborn Ave., Chgo, IL

For more information or to purchase tickets, call 773.296.7157.

Proceeds benefit the Hispanocare Scholarship Fund. Scholarships awarded Saturday, December 1, 2012 at the 24th Annual Gala
"Nuestro Compromiso"
Our Commitment at the Chicago Downtown Marriott Hotel.
Get Well Soon, Stan! 

 

The Puerto Rican Cultural Center and Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School wish a speedy recovery to Stanley Kustra, owner of Joe's Hardware. We encourage everyone to please stop in with your well wishes.
Deepest Condolences

 

The Puerto Rican Cultural Center and National Boricua Human Rights Network extend their deepest condolences to the Robert Roth and Judith Mirkinson family, long time supporters of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center and National Boricua Human Rights Network, on the passing of Martha Roth. Robert's mother.

Picture of the Week

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Puerto Rican Cultural Center (Over 30,000 pictures!)

Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos HS
(Over 13,000 pics!)

Over $2000 Raised on the OLR Kickstarter Project

 

As of Wednesday,March 7, the Kickstarter Project to fund the publication of the English translation of Oscar Lopez Rivera: Between Torture and Resistance has raised $2050.00 out of $3500.00 needed to publish. 25 days are left to raise the remaining $1450.00. Please go to the Kickstarter site (link at the end of the story) and donate what you can today. We must raise all of the money or we receive none of it. Between Torture and Resistance is the story of one of Latin America's longest-held political prisoners, a Puerto Rican pro-independence activist who was convicted of the political "crime" of seditious conspiracy, not of harming anyone. Lavishly illustrated with photos of his life and artwork (he has become a painter during his now over thirty years behind bars), the book is an easily accessible introduction to U.S.-Puerto Rico relations and contemporary prison issues.  

OLR puppet at 2011 Peoples Parade, Chicago 

Read more and DONATE at the Kickstarter site...
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Puerto Rican Cultural Center
2739-41 W. Division St
Chicago, Illinois 60622
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Program News
100x35 Annual Event
PRCC Celebrates 4th Annual Open House

  

On Saturday, March 3rd, over one hundred and thirty people came out as the Puerto Rican Cultural Center celebrated its annual open house event entitled 100x35+4. This has become an annual event in which members of the community, university partners, elected officials and members of the press are given a tour of all the PRCC's programs, partners, and affiliates to see the work carried out in Humboldt Park. This year's event highlighted the opening of El Rescate, Vida/SIDA's supportive independent living program for homeless LGBTQ youth. This resource has long been overdue for LGBTQ youth in Humboldt Park and the Latino community. El Rescate will be able to provide culturally appropriate and identity affirming housing for ten homeless LGBTQ Latino young adults between the ages of 18-24. Please see the Windy City article below.  

 

Also part of the tour were visits to Ciclo Urbano bicycle shop, Batey Urbano youth space, Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School, Centro Infantil Corretjer and 72 Block by Block. The tour also stopped by La Cosecha, the fresh produce market. Below, Cook County Commissioner Edwin Reyes and State Senator Iris Mart�nez sample fresh orange juice and Don Oscar coffee. View more pictures at our Flickr site here
Youth Explore Sense of Place

  

Christy Prahl  

Originally published in the Humboldt Park Portal.

  

What happens when you empower young people to define their own sense of place? That's exactly what the Humboldt Park Youth PhotoVoice Project set out to reveal.

 

Through a partnership between the Puerto Rican Cultural Center and researchers at the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC) School of Public Health and Institute of Public Policy and Civic Engagement, 12 area youth were challenged to define what it means to call Humboldt Park home. The result, This is Our Humboldt Park: An Intersection of Place, Meaning, and Praxis for Puerto Rican Youth, was on display at the Institute of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture (IPRAC) in the form of 12 powerful story boards, each depicting a sense of place from a unique youth perspective.  

Press Conference/Boycott Organizers Accept Tipsy Cake Owner's Apology

 

With much thought and discussion, the organizers of the boycott of Tipsy Cake on February 23, 2012 officially accept the apology of bakery owner, Naomi Levine, presented on her Facebook page after our press conference. We accept this apology with a sense of compassion inherent in the values of the work to make Humboldt Park a culturally and economically vibrant place. This was well demonstrated in our peaceful and positive press conference.

It must also be said that we are also an open and welcoming community. Thus, we propose to you, Mrs. Levine, that you rectify your acknowledged mistake and learn about this community - its history, peoples, institutions, and visions for a bright future - especially on Paseo Boricua, which is only a block away from your bakery. More importantly, we sincerely hope that you could find ways to integrate yourself in our community's initiatives and vision. If this is done with a sense of humility, then we understand that this could be the beginnings of an ongoing dialogue and friendship.

Vida/SIDA opens LGBT homeless shelter 

From the Windy City Times

 

It took years of revised plans and fundraising, but on March 3 Vida/SIDA cut the ribbon on its much-anticipated LGBT homeless youth shelter, the first of its kind in the Midwest.

 

More than 75 people packed into the Humboldt Park organization to celebrate the opening of El Rescate.

"This is about hope," said Cook County Commissioner Edwin Reyes. "It's about dignity, and it's about saving lives." The transitional housing facility, located on the 4th floor of Vida/SIDA ( 2703 W. Division ) , will house up to 12 LGBT youths ages 18-24 and provide young people with social services like employment and education resources, skills training and case management. The brightly-painted space contains bedrooms with bunk beds and desks, a lounge and a full kitchen/ dining area.

  

Plans to open the shelter have been in the works for more than three years. Vida/SIDA had announced the housing as a 2010 goal but struggled through fundraising and red tape to make it happen.

But on March 3, the doors finally opened. Vida/SIDA, the only local HIV/AIDS organization that specifically serves Latino/as, was founded in 1988 to address a lack of culturally competent healthcare for HIV-positive Puerto Ricans. Dr. Roberto Sanabria, a longtime activist with the Puerto Rican Cultural Center ( PRCC ) which oversees Vida/SIDA, said that the organization has grown to respond to other gaps in services in the Latino/a community. "We have noticed the same thing with homeless youth," he said. "Once a child is homeless, especially if he is LGBT, these children are exposed to violence."

 

Sanabria and others credited Vida/SIDA Director Juan Calderon with making the project a reality. At age 25, Calderon has overseen the organization for four years now, making him the youngest to hold the position.

Read the entire article here...
Enjoy "Don Oscar" Coffee available at La Cosecha and IPRAC

   

Caf� Don Oscar can be purchased for $5.99 at:

 

La Cosecha: 2703 W. Division St.

 

IPRAC: 3015 W. Division St., 773-486-8345

 

Did you know that...

 

Watching television contributes to obesity in children.

 

If you know a child who suffers from both asthma and weight problems, contact Project CURA today to learn about local services. 312-942-9980.